Author: Ben Fowlkes

Twitter Mailbag: Do These Judges Have to Pass a Test or Anything?

Thanks to the power of Twitter and the widespread, though erroneous belief that there is no such thing as a stupid question, the Twitter mailbag is back with another fresh batch of almost useful answers to those burning questions of yours.

This week w…

Thanks to the power of Twitter and the widespread, though erroneous belief that there is no such thing as a stupid question, the Twitter mailbag is back with another fresh batch of almost useful answers to those burning questions of yours.

This week we discuss upcoming prospects in both the male and female divisions of MMA, and we also seek the answer to that age-old question, do the cageside judges deciding so many close fights have any sort of qualifications whatsoever?

All that, and yes, another James Toney query. If you have a question of your own for a future mailbag, hit me up at @BenFowlkesMMA. Then wait a couple weeks and remind me that you’re still waiting for an answer. Hey, I never said it was a perfect system.

@Aarondaane I have a pre-emptive mailbag question for you: are there any actual qualifications needed to be an mma judge?

Cecil Peoples Demonstrates How Not to Ref a Fight

I’m not saying that being an MMA referee is an easy job. Like a lot of gigs that look pretty cushy from a distance, it’s probably a lot harder once you try and do it yourself. Sure, you usually work in no more than fifteen-minute shifts, which does…

I’m not saying that being an MMA referee is an easy job. Like a lot of gigs that look pretty cushy from a distance, it’s probably a lot harder once you try and do it yourself. Sure, you usually work in no more than fifteen-minute shifts, which doesn’t sound bad. But then again, if you’re always working on Saturday nights, when do you go to the movies? These are the things we don’t consider from outside the cage.

What I will say about the referee’s job, however, is that there are a few sure ways to be bad at it. I was reminded of this fact last weekend when I watched referee/judge/sensei Cecil Peoples work the King of the Cage heavyweight title fight between Daniel Cormier and Tony Johnson.

Bas Rutten Offers Jens Pulver Good Advice for the Wrong Problem

It seems pointless to write another career eulogy for former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver, who suffered his sixth straight loss on last night’s War on the Mainland event. He’s clearly not interested in taking the hint, and we’re running out of pos…

It seems pointless to write another career eulogy for former UFC lightweight champ Jens Pulver, who suffered his sixth straight loss on last night’s War on the Mainland event. He’s clearly not interested in taking the hint, and we’re running out of positive things to say as he continues his quest for diminishing paychecks.

It took just a little over a minute for relative MMA novice Diego Garijo to drop Pulver with a straight left and then lock in an arm-in guillotine choke for the submission finish last night. According to MMA legend Bas Rutten, who helped out with color commentating duties for last night’s event, this loss was a sign that Pulver needed to dedicate himself to improving his ground game.

“Jens Pulver, if he wants to continue his career, I say, move. Move to Brazil for six months, and the only thing you’re doing is ground fighting.”

Falling Action: Best and Worst of Strikeforce Challengers 10

Filed under: StrikeforceUsually when I’m watching MMA fights on TV, I don’t want to risk a bathroom break in the middle of a fight for fear of missing something important. But with last night’s Strikeforce 135-pound women’s tournament and its three-min…

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Usually when I’m watching MMA fights on TV, I don’t want to risk a bathroom break in the middle of a fight for fear of missing something important. But with last night’s Strikeforce 135-pound women’s tournament and its three-minute rounds, I felt like I was always just one especially long sneeze away from missing the entire fight.

Not that I don’t understand the thinking behind the abbreviated tournament bouts. If you have to fight twice in the span of an hour, maybe you appreciate an outing that’s more appetizer than entrée.

That is, unless you lose a decision because you got taken down twice and there wasn’t much time to do anything else that might negate that. Then you probably feel like you got screwed, and you also probably feel like you need to hit the treadmill afterwards just so you can get a full workout in.

For One UFC Vet, Honest Self-Reflection Prompts Career Change

Filed under: UFCEvery fighter starts with dreams of greatness. Championship belts, screaming crowds – the whole deal. It’s normal. It’s rational, in its own way. It’s the special brand of optimism that comes with feeling young and invincible.

Antoni H…

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Every fighter starts with dreams of greatness. Championship belts, screaming crowds – the whole deal. It’s normal. It’s rational, in its own way. It’s the special brand of optimism that comes with feeling young and invincible.

Antoni Hardonk was no different in that regard. But there came a point when he had to be honest with himself about where he was headed and what he was capable of.

“In your twenties, you don’t think about the future as much,” the Dutch kickboxer and UFC veteran told MMA Fighting recently. “You do whatever you feel like doing and you don’t think about it. In your thirties, the future is more of a consideration. For me, I’m a good competitor, I have some talent, but I can’t retire on that. I can survive, but that’s basically it. So I decided I had to move on.”

One-Night Tournament Sounds Great, But Is It a Relic Better Left in MMA’s Past?

Filed under: StrikeforceFor the old school MMA fans, there’s something about the one-night tournament that we can’t resist. It’s the siren’s song of nostalgia, I suppose. We hear it and immediately go sailing off into the rocky cliffs, even though we r…

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For the old school MMA fans, there’s something about the one-night tournament that we can’t resist. It’s the siren’s song of nostalgia, I suppose. We hear it and immediately go sailing off into the rocky cliffs, even though we really should know better by now.

I’m just as bad as anyone else in this regard. I hear about a night that begins with several fighters and ends with one champion, and suddenly I feel like it’s 1996 and I should be going over to a friend’s house to watch it on VHS while we figure out how to sneak a beer or two out of the fridge without his parents noticing.

That’s not to say I necessarily think that either the one-night tournament or the surreptitious underage drinking (smart parents count those beers, as it turns out) are a good idea. But as I expect Friday night’s women’s 135-pound Strikeforce tournament will prove, every once in a while we need to be reminded why some things in the past didn’t make it into the present.